Question from a reader

[rolanni]

From deep in the comment thread of the last post, we have the following question:

If you're willing to share, I'm just curious -- how many of the favorites/current reading listed by other folks have you already read?

Well, let's see...

Poison Study, Maria V. Snyder
Definitely Dead, Charlaine Harris
Storm Front, Jim Butcher
entire eight books of the wizard series by Diane Duane
Sorcery and Cecilia, Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Arabella, Georgette Heyer
Downbelow Station, CJ Cherryh
These Old Shades, Georgette Heyer
The Masqueraders, Georgette Heyer
Niccolo Rising, Dorothy Dunnett
the Brother Caedfael mysteries, Ellis Peters
Uglies and Pretties, Scott Westerfield
Smoke And Ashes, Tanya Huff
the Kencyr books by P.C. Hodgell
The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
Lord Valentine's Castle, Robert Silverberg
Summers at Castle Auburn, The Shape-Changer's Wife, Wrapt in Crystal, Sharon Shinn
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
Hellspark, Janet Kagan
Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon,Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos, Roger Zelazny
Memory, Lois McMaster Bujold
Space Cadet, Robert A. Heinlein
Farmer in the Sky, Robert A. Heinlein
The Threads that Binds the Bones, Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Summer Country, James Hetley
Alien Taste, Wen Spencer
Rats, Bats & Vats, Eric Flint, Dave Freer
the Anthony Villiers series, Alexei Panshin
On Basilisk Station, David Weber
the Telzey Amberdon stories, James A. Schmitz
Agent of Vega, James A. Schmitz
the Joe stories, Murray Leinster
Skeen's Leap, Jo Clayton

I have tried random Pratchetts -- and, I'm sorry, but I Just Don't Get It.  No sense of humor, me.

Ditto, Gaiman.

And, having read the first Niccolo, after which I was depressed for a month, I have strong doubts that I'll ever seek out the Lymond books, though many people whose taste I respect adore them.

Comments

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Looking at your list, I was about to recommend books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller... :-)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

LOL!

[threeringedmoon.livejournal.com]

The Lymond books are better.

[arkessian.livejournal.com]

Agreed -- I read Lymond first and adore it; I can't finish even the first Niccolo.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Probably you have read a *lot* more Bujold than just _Memory_ -- _Curse of Chalion_ was OK, _Paladin of Souls_ was outstanding; _Hallowed Hunt_ too redictable, though also OK.

I need to get Westerfield's _Peeps_ ....

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Probably you have read a *lot* more Bujold than just _Memory_

I've read a lot of Bujold, but possibly not as much as you assume. My favorite is Brothers in Arms, which is, coincidentally, the first Bujold I ever read. A Civil Campaign makes me want to break things. I read about a third of Chalion in a bookstore, but it wasn't persausive enough to talk me into taking it home...

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

I forgot _the time traveler's wife_ Audrey Niffenegger.....

_Inkheart_ by Cornelia Funke....


Donna Andrews bird titled mysteries....

and touchstone books....

[noiseinmyhead.livejournal.com]

ooo and Nancy Kress _the Prince of Morning Bells_

and _Fool's Run_ Patricia McKillip

[liadan-m.livejournal.com]

since it's not on the list,

Heart of Gold by Sharon Shinn (suffers from the same...ending issues as most of her works)
The Last Dragonlord by Joanne Bertin (Which I thought was pretty durn good the first run through, and the second time, 5 years later, I'm having a harder time with the cliches and some of the plot devices. OTOH, it's still very, very good for a first novel and I wish she would write the third.)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Heart of Gold by Sharon Shinn

I knew there'd was another Shinn that I'd read! Thank you. Yes, endings do seem to be difficult for her.

[schulman.livejournal.com]

Is this the recommend thread now?

Going a bit further afield, Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories is delightful. Two parts Arabian Nights, one part Little Nemo in Slumberland, shake vigorously.

There's also a new novella-length DWJ just out, The Game. It is, unsurprisingly, about a young girl from a large, powerful family with all kinds of secrets that she has to unravel in order to save everyone. Not as good a variation on the theme as The Pinhoe Egg was, but pleasant and short.

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

Oh! One of my absolute favorites is Orbital Resonance by John Barnes. You may want to save it until after you are done telling about Theo; still, it is a book that will stay with you.

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

Hard to find (they were published eons ago) but; Ru Emerson:"To the Haunted Mountains, Go" "In the Caves of Exile" and "On the Seas of Destiny"
also, a separate stand alone book, "The Princess of Flames"
"Silverlock" by John Myers Myers...just for the fun of picking out the classics one recognizes.

[(Anonymous)]

Burton
from Montreal, Canada

Have you read Fool's War by Sarah Zettel from about 1997. It's one twisty space opera/mystery.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Have you read Fool's War by Sarah Zettel from about 1997

Yep. A long time ago. I liked it OK; kinzel had some Significant Problems wtih the packet business there toward the climax.

[chappysmom2.livejournal.com]

Glad to see Sharon Shinn on your list, if only because I love them so much.

Ooh, and Silverlock! I adore Silverlock--even used it as a screen name back on "Bitnet" in college.

I meant to mention Connie Willis's "To Say Nothing of the Dog," too--a strange sort of book, kind of, but very fun, and very readable, once the author gets over his time-lag where nothing makes sense (to him or to the reader).

I have to say, though, that I actually prefer the Niccolo series just a tad bit more than the Lymond series, but love both of them. I've read both series four times through and always find more that I've missed. I will say, though, that the first Niccolo book doesn't exactly flow . . . The second one, though, is one of my favorites of the series.

Diana Wynne Jones' "Deep Secret" is pretty entertaining, too--real magic coming through to a sci-fi convention . . .

[otaku-tetsuko.livejournal.com]

Oh! Connie Willis, I forgot to mention - but that short story collection that includes "Even the Queen" and "At the Rialto"....!!!!! The first should be Required Reading for everyone over the age of 15 or so.

[sparkylibrarian.livejournal.com]

Garth Nix's Abhorsen series is very enjoyable-- it's one of my comfort rereads. And Tokyopop just translated the first volume of The Twelve Kingdoms: The Sea of Shadow by Fuyumi Ono-- only slightly awkward, very readable, and recommended as well. She's got a fascinating universe going.

My boss is currently enjoying The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a YA novel set in WWII-era Germany. I am waiting for her to finish it now. And there was a big list of books that I bought recently, and I can't remember a one of them. Has anyone suggested Jonathan Stroud? The Amulet of Samarkand?

[debmats.livejournal.com]

How about Michelle Sagara's Cast in Shadow or Cast in Courtlight?

[sraun]

I distinctly remember mentioning E.E. "Doc" Smith's Skylark books - given the Delameters, I'm surprised that you don't have them on your 'already read' list.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I distinctly remember mentioning E.E. "Doc" Smith's Skylark books

You must apply to kinzel. I find Doc Smith Totally Unreadable. I believe kinzel feels much the same way about Mary Stewart's romances.

Books and authors

[(Anonymous)]

Has no one else read Barbara Hambley? And to think that I met her by way of her black free man detective in 1803(circa)historical mysteries. Didn't even know she did Science Fiction until I was in the catalog files, looking for more stuff by her. The Darwath Trilogy, which is now 5 books; the Silent Tower series, four books; the Suncross stories, with a dip into Nazi Germany, World War II; the dragon stories; the vampire stories.Treats still to come, The Raven Sisters, Bride of the Rat God, and Search the Seven hills. Also she has done historical civil war and president's ladies stuff. Haven't gone into what she wrote for Star Trek and Star Wars! Don't want to spoil myself.

Joan C

Re: Books and authors

[pakwa26.livejournal.com]

I have read some of her other stuff and it's as good as the Darwath Trilogy, but probably my particular favorite is Sorcerer's Ward, which I come back to regularly for the sheer quality of the imagery - the smells, sounds and colours in this book are almost tangible.

[ramblin-phyl.livejournal.com]

I agree on Pratchet and Gaimen. Never liked the 3 Stooges or Marx Brothers, or I Love Lucy either.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Never liked the 3 Stooges or Marx Brothers, or I Love Lucy either.

Now see, I live and die by the Marx Brothers; the Stooges have not aged well for me, but they got me through a baddish childhood, along with, yanno, Joe E. Brown, W.C. Fields, Abbott & Costello, the Bowery Boys and all those comic actors who were suddenly suitable viewing for children because their stuff was "old" even though they'd been playing for adults.

When I was a kid, I viewed I Love Lucy as a documentary. In retrospect, this Explains Much.

[ben-and-me.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, just glancing over my shelves quickly.
I am really enjoying Kim Harrison's latest "For a Few Demons More" , one of her Rachel Morgan series.
And I have Jim Butcher's "White Night" to follow. What did you think of "Storm Front?" I think JB's writing gets better as the series continues. Try the next couple!
I started James White's "Beginning Operation," but I needed to think too much and had to take a break!
Also on the back burner is "The Club Dumas," by Perez-Reverte. I read the first chapter, and it did not immediately draw me in, so I put it down. But friends are telling me that it is so worth picking up again!
Then of course, there are the professional journals. Which I really should be reading now, and not the others!!

Shh! Don't tell…

[phil-boswell.livejournal.com]

As testament to the quality of Jim Butcher's writing capability, I am currently struggling through "White Night" courtesy of a truly dreadful text-to-speech conversion I was linked to from "Google Alerts".

The book itself is excellent: it's the quality of the "audio-book" which is truly awful, which is why as soon as I can wrassle a copy from the Library I'm going to scour it from my hard-drive.

[hangs head in shame]

Yes, I know it's a Bad Thing to do, but I can only exert so much pressure on the dang Library to get their purchasing department moving, and the dreadful longing is just overwhelming ;-)

Elizabeth Moon

[fiopi.livejournal.com]

For heroic fantasy with interesting female lead character try The Deed of Paksenarrion. It's actually three books in a trade paperback - Sheep Farmers Daughter, Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold.

Re: Elizabeth Moon

[pakwa26.livejournal.com]

Is it just me, or does The Deed of Paksenarrion kind of feel like book 3 was written by somebody else? There's this huge 'whooshka' change in her worldview, but nothing to support it, it's just like "Oh, all of a sudden she's all grown up & noble and we're just supposed to accept it".

Don't get me wrong, I love EM's books, but maybe her evil twin wrote Oath of Gold?

[alethea-eastrid.livejournal.com]

Heh. My snappy comment on Pratchett is...yes, I've read him. Voluntarily. In Italy, when it was one of about five books available to me in English. (I actually listened to a few of the audiobooks last semester, Monstrous Regiment and the Tiffany Actung books, which were not a complete waste of my time. But then, I could knit at the same time.)

And if the first Niccolo depressed you for a month, for God's sake don't read Lymond. You'll either fling the books across the room or commit suicide. Mind you, I love them with all the burning passion of my heart, but they are, I admit, a specific taste.\

My latest "oh God how did I miss this for so long?" was Charles Stross' The Atrocity Archive.

I reccomend, VERY highly, that you look at Paladin of Souls. Curse of Chalion is a...perfectly reasonable fantasy. Paladin of Souls takes a woman in her late middle age and sends her on a pigrimage straight out of Chaucer. Only with deamons.

Recommends

[mychapeau.livejournal.com]

Going from Rolanni's list, I recommend these personal reads from 2006, sometimes supporting previous comments:

The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner (Helps to read the first two, but this is my favorite.)

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik (first one is best and can be read alone)

Inda by Sherwood Smith

And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

[(Anonymous)]

The King of Attolia is on order. The Thief (the first one) was very good. Also agree about His Majesties Dragon.

I'd also recommend Dragon Bones and Dragon Blood by Patricia Biggs. Not that her eariler books aren't enjoyable but by these books I think she's gotten a handle on her craft.

Tricia

read the second Lymond book

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

This may be heresy for the linear thinkers, but that's how I first read them.

(If you like it/them, then go back and read the first eventually, but the first isn't really like the others, I don't think she had really hit her stride.)

I plowed through Niccolo, since I believed that in spite of bleak moments there would be rewards, and there were. But Lymond is MUCH better.

I have the new Charlaine Harris, fresh arrived from Amazon....

Gaiman

[pakwa26.livejournal.com]

I have to say I'm surprised, nay, shocked, about your failure with Neil Gaiman. I thought American Gods was one of the best books I'd ever read, up there with regular fiction writers like Margaret Attwood or Angela Carter...

Maybe it's the 'British' thing? It's a big pond...

Re: Gaiman

[kalimeg.livejournal.com]

I've never yet finished a Gaiman book. He just doesn't do it for me. I have liked two or three Prachetts out of the 10 or so I've tried, so my impulse to try is not very high anymore. Even though I really liked Hogfather, I consider most of Prachett a waste of shelf space.

[djonn]

[thwacks self on forehead]

Matt Ruff. All of him (three books to date, one due in . . . July, I think).

Fool on the Hill is wry and contemporary and literary and funny and, well, amazing, particularly since he wrote it while he was attending Cornell University (and set it there).

Sewer, Gas & Electric is wry and near-future and literary and funny and sort of resembles Neal Stephenson crossed with Kurt Vonnegut crossed with the "Global Frequency" comics as imagined by the writers of "Futurama". Nominally SF with a thriller plot, but way over the top in a good way.

Set This House In Order is wry and contemporary and thoughtful and fascinating, and while amusing is much less overtly comic; it's nominally a mystery/psychological novel whose narrator is the core persona of a multiple personality -- though you could make a case for it as SF for the framework in which Ruff examines the core character(s).

Bad Monkeys, due this summer, is wry and contemporary and funny and sort of scary and fascinating; this one is a character study crossed with a conspiracy-theory thriller, with a plot approximately as twisty as a maze of little passages in Colossal Cave (the ones that are all different, not the ones that are all alike).

Ruff isn't a particularly fast writer; these four books cover a span of about 20 years. But he's worth the wait.

gaiman and pratchett....

[(Anonymous)]

are clearly a matter of personal preference. I like mythology, which is why I liked American Gods and Anansi Boys so much. I can't read the first Pratchett's... but do like his more recent work.

In the same vein, I really like Jane Lindskold's books about immortals/ legends/ gods (the athanor) living in the the everyday world... Changer and Legends Walking. Her most recent Child of a Rainless World was strange but rather bewitching. good concepts, good characters, strange plot. I'm NOT fond the wolf-y books.

I recommend reading more Jim Butcher... he's defintely learning the writerly craft as he goes. The last four books have been leagues above the first few.

Have you read Sharon Shinn's Samaria/Angel books? very romantic... very similar plot lines among all of them. but fun.

Have you tried Lynn Flewelling? The Nightrunner books are adventure, intrigue, darkish but fun. The Tamir books are just weird! glad I borrowed those from the Library.

I like Catherine Asaro for romantic/sci-fi. The Skolian universe has good science and good characters. Some of the books are little too sex-ish (not sexy)... but the books about Soz are great!

KB

[saruby.livejournal.com]

I have tried random Pratchetts -- and, I'm sorry, but I Just Don't Get It. No sense of humor, me.

Glad that I'm not the only one. I tried, honestly, but couldn't get halfway through one book. Just didn't work for me. Haven't tried Gaiman, although I hear he's wonderful. They look a bit too dark for me. I like SF, some Fantasy, romance, even some paranormal stuff, but I just can't do horror.

I ddin't participate the the prior survey, but am intrigued at how many of my favorites appear on the lists. Hmm. Maybe there is something to the "if you like this, try this" theory of book buying.